Solar Eternal: Life and Death Continued
by WinterSunshine
Summary: "It seemed cruel, cruel fate that now, just as we'd been given the incredible gift of the other, for all eternity, it was being ripped from our hands-here, now. I reached across the empty space of the clearing, twining my fingers with Edythe's. My eyes communicated what words could not... What had started as forever, an eternal sunrise, had quickly darkened to blackest night.
1. Chapter 1

I read Life and Death when it first came out, hungrily drinking in each alternate-universes word, sinking into the book like it was a warm bubble bath, familiar and like coming home... I read it, and I quickly put it aside, for a long while. But recently I pulled the book out again, and as I read it again, with a new, more patient perspective, I realized that Beau and Edythe's story wasn't just a gender-bender reflection of Twilight. As I read it again, I realized that these characters were their own, and I fell in love with them, hard. Beau and Edythe's love story is beautifully unique, full of the familiar themes of the original twilight-the fearless exhilaration of first love, bravery, courage, self-sacrifice, and perseverance. I read the story again, and as I sat there, I tried to imagine how I could reshape their story, to fit it to the way the rest of the series had played out, like Bella and Edward's story had. I sat and stewed, trying to come up with a way to write an alternate ending-which would have been easy enough, and a continuum that would have been easy... But less original, I found myself enraptured by the way things had ended. With Beau a vampire, and eternity set out in front of them like a golden plate... With a few twists and snares along the way. And not only just Edythe and Beau's story, but Beau and Jules's story, and Beau and Royal's story, Beau and Archie's story... So here I am, preparing to bring that to life. So. Are you ready? Here we go...


	2. Chapter 2

.

" _If kisses were the water I would give you the sea,_

 _If hugs were the leaves I would give you a tree,_

 _But if love was time, I would give you eternity."_

 _-Anonymous_

 _._

I was in heaven-and as close to sleep as I could get, for a vampire who can't sleep.

Being in the meadow, with Edythe, was where I'd spent most days in the last few months.

I could feel the sunshine, more frequent now that we were nearing summer, buttery warm, melting into every facet of my shimmering skin.

"I've decided," came Edythe's quiet, musical voice, "that this is the closest to heaven I'll get." She pressed her full, silken lips to the exposed skin of my bare chest.

"Mmm," I hummed, running blind-but perfectly on target-fingers through her hair. "I was just thinking the same thing."

I opened one eye a slit, and Edythe was sitting up, leaning over me. Her eyes were the effervescent hue of butterscotch, and her expression was amused. Her hair had been haphazardly pulled back from her face in a sloppy bun, but most of the long tendrils had escaped, brushing against my chest in the easy, mellow breeze.

The sunlight shattered off her skin, and in the prisms of colored light refracting into the air, I could see every color of the rainbow-including the final, eighth color, that I couldn't put a name to, I had discovered with my new vampire eyes.

She was _so_ beautiful.

"We should be getting back," Edythe murmured. I could hear every intimate syllable as each caressed her tongue, and the way her lips brushed together seductively.

"No thanks." I locked my arms around her waist, pressing hands into the concave small of her back, the satin-smooth skin there exposed by the way her top had ridden up. The pressure I applied pressed her impossibly closer, and she laughed, almost sounding breathless as she braced herself against my chest with flat palms.

She surrendered easily, molding the shape of her sun-drenched lips to mine. Her mouth moved languidly against mine, taking her sweet time, which I was utterly and totally fine with. I could take my time, too, and was planning on it.

Greedily, I pressed her closer, inhaling her absurdly sweet breath. If I'd been human still, my heart would be pounding, but as it was, it lay dormant, silent under her hands, inside my hollow chest.

My breathing, however, was a different story altogether, a leftover human reaction to her closeness, and this new world we'd been exploring since I'd been changed, and my fragility was no longer an issue.

"Okay, really," Edythe giggled when I rolled, pinning her in the grass beneath me, "we should go… Beau… _Beau_!" she shrieked, giggling as I ducked my lips under her chin, kissing down the column of her pale, ethereal throat.

A playful growl built in her chest, and somehow, she slithered out from underneath me, somersaulting away from me.

"We really should go. I promised-"

I dove for her, and though she couldn't foresee the move I was about to make, she was faster than I was. Edythe danced lithely out of my grasp, skipping backward across the meadow.

"I _promised-_ " she continued, laughter pealing like bells. _Oh, God,_ how I adored that sound… "-Archie I'd meet him after school."

It was the second week of May, and Edythe and I had not returned to school-myself for obvious reasons-I was supposed to be dead-and Edythe for lesser-known reasons, which would not be shared with the public. The story was that she'd been so broken-up over my supposed death, she couldn't stand going back to school, so Earnest had decided to home school her for the remainder of her high school career. Edythe hadn't been upset about besotting her eighty-somethingth high school diploma.

The real reason was that Edythe had been busy mentoring me, in my newly founded vampire life.

To everyone's immense surprise, I'd hardly needed it. I had found the adjustment to vampire life shockingly easy.

Jessamine had been appalled at my-as she put it-profound cognizance of self-control.

It wasn't as easy as she made it seem, but then, I was also pleased to find that the last few months had barely been anything like I was told they would be… Human instincts buried deep inside, hungry only for the satiating river of blood, wild, crazed, desperate…

Yes, it was true-my thirst for blood was not as easily quenched as the others', and I had to hunt more frequently. But I was incredibly delighted to discover that I was the Beau I had always been, even before the change. And other hungers, hungers I thought I would have lost for a long time, were as present as ever-sharper, even.

 _Speaking of…_

"Archie, smarchie," I muttered, beginning to circle Edythe slowly now. She mirrored my advances, defensive. "He can wait." I dove again, asserting a little too much velocity-I was still learning-and as my hands found purchase on Edythe's tiny waist, we catapulted backward, lurching through the foliage ringing the perimeter of the meadow and smashing into a tall fir tree.

I turned just in time, keeping Edythe tight in my arms, so that it was my stone back that bouldered into the thick, aged trunk so hard that it split in two with a groan that would be ear-splitting to a human, but which brought no resulting pain to my vampiric ears. The tree toppled, and we fell with it, our collision ringing like the smack of boulders through the dense brush of the forest.

Edythe's perfect, bell-like laughter rang out again as the vestiges of our corruption of nature stilled beneath us.

"Poor Archie," Edythe pretended to pout, "We'll _really_ be late now, trying to put this poor tree back together."

Another tree, closeby, groaned, leaning precariously, and the musky scent of dirt, unhinging, entered my nostrils.

I flipped us so that I was the one hovering over Edythe now.

"Screw the damned tree," I practically breathed, and lowered my mouth to hers, slipping a leg between hers to hold her in place against the fallen tree trunk.

I barely noticed when the other tree came toppling down, crashing into my back, splintering off its stony stability, leaves and twigs, bark and moss detonating every which way.

Forest debris rained down over us, and Edythe burst into laughter once more at my wild, savage ways.

Suddenly, my head whipped up reflexively, automatically, catching the scent. The sound of the forest crashing down around them had startled a small herd of deer, grazing a couple of miles off. Their hearts, heavy and thudding with an elixir like none other-okay, they were herbivores, so it wasn't top-notch, exactly, but it would do-picked up speed as their heads whipped up, as well as mine. And then they cleared the small space they'd occupied, moving fast, unsure of what had scared them, only knowing they needed to get away from the threat, quickly.

But I was quicker, the threat they didn't see coming.

.

"Well, no wonder you two took so long," Archie said when we walked through the front door. He and Jess were sitting on the floor in the living room, a game of Canasta between them.

Jess glanced up from her hand of cards, giving the both of us a quick once-over. She rolled her eyes affectionately.

"Oh, you know Beau and his hungers," Edythe said, knowing very well what Archie had been getting at.

Absently, self-conscious, I picked leaves out of Edythe's tangled hair. If I could have, I'd be displaying quite the show of blotchy red spots right about now.

"Beaufort," Archie said in his disapproving tone, "I just bought you that shirt last week."

"I liked it, too," Edythe mused, plucking at its uselessness now. It had been torn, shredded, really, between the trees, and the struggling hooves of the two deer I'd managed to ascertain. "It reminded me of your human eyes."

I gazed down at her for a moment, and then said, "I'd better go change."

I headed up the first set of stairs, past Carine's office door, through which I could hear her talking to someone on the phone. I moved up the second flight of stairs, to the third floor, to Edythe's-no, mine _and_ Edythe's-bedroom. A few things had been moved around, the biggest change being the addition of a king-sized bed, draped in a golden duvet.

I had been embarrassed when the thing had been brought upstairs, knowing what the only reason a vampire owning a bed would be for, but no one seemed embarrassed about it, or even awkward. I supposed, really, nothing much got by in this house, with super-sensitive hearing and all, and the fact that nobody slept.

We all tried to be respectful of each others' privacy, but there was more than just the tranquil, warm beauty behind the reason Edythe and I liked to visit the meadow so frequently.

Quickly, I stripped my muddled tattered button up, and slipped on a Royal Blood band t-shirt, something Archie wouldn't exactly approve of, but then, what did I care? I wasn't planning on letting him choose what I wore every day for the rest of forever, was I now?

I stopped in the bathroom down the hall, glancing at myself in the mirror. Every so often, I'd catch my reflection, in this strange, surreal sense-seeing the boy standing there, and then realizing that it was me. Parts of me were familiar. The old Beau was still there-dark shock of hair against pale skin, though the contrast was, admittedly, more stark now… Features sharpened, muscles exaggerated, as if I'd been edited in some real-life version of Photo Shop. And the eyes… The eyes were always what shocked me most.

It had been a few months now, and so they weren't _so_ red anymore, but they were still an astonishment. They were more a burning amber, the color of burning embers in a campfire now, somewhere between crimson and topaz.

Briefly, I contemplated the idea of red eyes for life, and all that would entail… I couldn't deny the curiosity wasn't there, but curiosity and desire are two very different things.

And I wanted to live this spectacular new life with _Edythe_.

She'd made mistakes, yes, something she couldn't seem to let herself forget, and I had decided to learn from her remorse and pain.

Besides, there was the part of it that I couldn't… wouldn't… imagine. Teeth sinking into real-life human flesh, causing someone intentional pain-even, make that most likely, death-for my own, selfish gain…

The ghost of a shudder, really more the memory of the sensation than the actual ministration, quaked through me.

I turned away from the bathroom mirror and went back downstairs.


	3. Chapter 3

"Time to get up," Edythe said, breaking the long, still silent, sending ripples through the unmovable waters of our peaceful bliss, as we laid in our bed together.

"No," I groaned, not opening my eyes as I fumbled for her skin, intermixed in the soft, white sheets, but she was already up, walking naked across the room, in search of clothes.

I leaned back against the pillows, appreciating the view.

Edythe caught me staring, and she bounded over, leaning over in front of me, putting her finger underneath my slack jaw, pressing it up until my lips sealed.

"You're drooling," she whispered, grinning slyly.

"Well, can you blame me?" I propped myself up on my elbow, reaching for her again, but my fingertips just brushed her hip as she glided out of reach again, slipping into a peach-colored satiny robe.

Edythe giggled, armed with a pile of clothes. "I'm going to shower. I'll see you downstairs."

I sighed, watching her exit the room, and, resigned, got out of bed, too.

.

 _Streak of Brutal Seattle Murders Raises SPD's Concerns._

I'd skimmed the newspaper's headline idly, but focused more now, as my formerly uninterested eyes caught on the words of the article.

 _Suspicious motive. Bodies drained of blood. Suspected serial killer._

"Have you seen this?" I asked Earnest as he passed, wiping down the marble kitchen island counter with a microfibre rag, the smell of lemon furniture polish saturating the air.

Earnest glanced over, scanning the headline, and the resulting article, his self. He shrugged, his mouth opening to say something, but then Edythe was there, snatching up the paper.

"Did you see this?" I asked, reaching for the paper, which she now held behind her back.

"It's fine, Beau," she said, her voice taking on that soothing, soft edge I was used to. Protecting me. Intuition flared. They didn't want me to know about this… Why?

"You knew about this?" I asked, stepping around the counter, following Edythe to the garbage bin. As she pressed the lever to open the lid, I shot my hand out, taking the newspaper off her again before she could throw it out, determined to get a closer look.

"Don't worry about it, Beau," Edythe repeated, reaching for the paper again, but I turned away from her, reading the article more thoroughly. When I was done, I turned back to her. She stood behind me, arms folded over her chest, brow puckered.

"A vampire is killing these people?" I guessed.

I had seen she'd been determined to lie, but now, I saw a flash in her ochre eyes that told me my guess had been spot on.

"We've been tracking whoever it is," she started, trying to sound blase, but I knew better, "It's not that big a deal. Probably a newborn, learning to control his thirst-"

"Like me." My voice was quiet.

"Well, I don't think a newborn has ever had quite the modicum of self-control you possess," Edythe murmured, stretching up on her toes to kiss my lips briefly, "But yes. 'Like you'."

I had decided I was going to believe her, until I looked over her shoulder and saw Jessamine standing in the doorway. The expression on her face told me that she definitely didn't agree with what Edythe was saying. It wasn't just some 'newborn'.

There was a waver in the room's emotional atmosphere, and I realized that Jess was putting up a front. My suspicion grew exponentially.

.

"... Five killings in the last two weeks. There's at least one-" the low voice in the office cut off as I paused outside the door.

"Do you think…?" the other person, Eleanor, murmured lowly, not having caught on to my attentions yet.

Edythe didn't respond, and when I poked my head around the door frame, resigned to the fact that I'd been caught, I saw Jess standing with them, as well. I suspected Carine would have liked to be involved with the conversation, but she'd had to run off to work.

It was hours later, and the discussion about the newspaper article from this morning and been avoided all day, Edythe skipping around its bounds like it had been an impassable chasm. But now… She _was_ talking about it. Just not with me.

Suspicion rose again.

"Hey," I said, lifting a hand in an awkward wave, finding all three of their gazes on me, immediately inert on my face. "What's up?"

Edythe's face looked pinched, and she shook her head fiercely at an unspoken thought from one of the girls.

"No," she snapped.

"Nothing," Jessamine said for her, "Nothing for you to worry about, Beau."

Unexpectedly, a foggy memory of her saying those same words, or something to close to it, in a hotel room in Phoenix drifted into my mind. I'd been so panicked, about this family getting hurt over my safety, my mother, my father… It had all been for naught, though I'd known the tracker vampire, Joss, would have hurt my family if necessary. But she hadn't had to. I'd sacrificed myself for everyone else, and she'd basically killed me as a result. Or she'd planned on it, but Edythe and the rest of the family had gotten there in time.

 _But not soon enough,_ Edythe had insisted, though I'd disagreed. The eventuality of my immortality had been understood, though the timing of it had been debatable. Sure, it hadn't happened quite the way either of us had thought, but we both had to have known I would end up here eventually…

My memories distracted me for a moment, though I hadn't forgotten about the conversation at hand. By the time I turned back to Jess, to disregard her words, insist there was something more, they'd changed the subject, and Eleanor was moving past me, out the door, back into the hallway.

Jessamine passed next, and before Edythe could slip past me, I gripped her arm. It brought her up short, though she tugged firmly on my grip. I wasn't willing to let go.

"Beau…" she said quietly, and when she looked up into my face, I saw it again: that expression that told me they were hiding something from me.

"What is it, Edythe?" I murmured, keeping my voice low.

She stared at me for a moment, indecision in her golden eyes, as if she were contemplating really telling me. But then the gold hardened in resolve, and she shook her head.

"It's nothing."

I pursed my lips speculatively. "Why don't I believe you?"

She sighed. "It doesn't concern you, Beau. Jess thinks it could be a gang of new vampires, out of control. The Sulpicia will step in soon enough if it gets too out of control. Jess and El want to go talk to them-"

"Well, why not? Why don't we go? Save the Sulpicia some trouble?" My lips turned up wryly at the corners.

"It's not worth-" she began, but then cut off. "Dammit!"

I let her go now as she tugged at my hold more urgently, and then strode down the hall.

"What is it now?" I demanded, taking off after her in a stride so sudden I knew I would have stumbled in my former, human ways.

Archie appeared at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes wide, fearful.

"I don't… I can't…"

Edythe flew down the stairs, and was at Archie's side in a fraction of a second.

"Why does this keep _happening_?" he growled in frustration.

And then we all smelled it, in the same moment: what seemed like wet dog, but was really werewolf.

.

I opened the front door just as Julie Black climbed out of a faded red Volkswagen Rabbit, slamming the creaking, rusty door behind her. She was wearing frayed cut-offs and a grey v-neck. Her hair was shorter, barely long enough to pull back into a just-there nub of a pony tail at the nape of her neck.

I couldn't help but notice that in only the few months that had passed since I'd seen her last, how much she'd… well, filled out, was the only way I could put it. Where before she'd been tall, slim and practically shapeless, now she was suddenly well-muscled, bands of firm tissue running up and down her bare arms and legs. She looked like a _woman_ now, and I knew enough from Health Class that puberty didn't happen at this rate.

But then, I knew the answer before I'd taken one step away from the bottom of the staircase.

Jules was a werewolf.

I was immensely surprised by the fact, that though we were _supposed_ to be mortal enemies, there was no animosity between us. I remembered the way Jules had made me feel, at the beach those many weeks ago-had it been only a few months?-when we'd met around the bonfire. There had been an immediate, undeniable connection, and I had been comfortable with her, around her open face, and jokey, easy-going attitude.

"Hey, there!" she called, waving at me and grinning. I was surprised by her friendliness, because I could see the hairs on her arms standing up, just being in my presence.

"Jules," I called, leaping off the porch steps, because I could, "How's it going? You… You look different."

Jules laughed self-consciously. "Yeah, well," she gestured to herself, in an up-and-down motion with her hand, "It must be the werewolf thing."

I laughed, the familiar easiness blooming between us more effortlessly than I would have thought possible, even now.

"What's new with you?" she questioned, and I didn't miss the way her dark eyes lingered on my skin, my eyes. She suppressed a shudder. "I mean, aside from the obvious?"

I shook my head and shoved my hands into my pockets. "Absolutely nothing. Pretty boring, actually."

She flashed a brief, toothy smile, and then her eyes strayed past me, over to the porch, and her smile disappeared.

"Hi," she said flatly.

"Hello," Edythe returned, her tone glacial, and in that instant, I wanted to defend Julie somehow. Did things really need to be like this?

I happened to like Julie-in fact, had thought of her as kind of a friend. Until I realized that maybe we weren't supposed to be…

"What brings you here?" Edythe questioned, and she walked slowly to my side, her small hand drifting from the middle of my back, to my lower back. I didn't miss the way Julie watched Edythe touch me, claim me?

It was then that I noticed the two other wolves, lingering in the forest, probably twenty yards back, but alert either way. Their thudding, wet hearts held none of the temptation for me that so many other animals held.

Julie appraised us for a moment, and then crossed her arms, her face going flat.

"There's been an influx of vampires in the area," Julie said, pulling herself up taller, though she already towered over Edythe. Her head, if she'd been standing close enough, would have passed my jaw, though I was sure she hadn't been that tall the last time I'd seen her. "It's made the pack nervous, restless. We just want to make sure…" Her eyes flickered to me again, hesitant this time.

"You needn't worry about that," Edythe said in answer to Julie's unfinished question. Her tone was unnecessarily harsh. "Beau has incredible self-control. I'm surprised your mother didn't tell you that."

A moment of silence passed between the two, and understanding dawned. Did the werewolf pack think it was _me_ killing all those people in Seattle?

"If that's all, you can be on your way."

Jules glanced down at her white-conversed feet, and kicked the dirt driveway, sending up a small puff of dust. She rubbed the back of her hand across her nose, her head spasming to the side for the briefest of moments, as if trying to shake off the stink of something.

I knew she didn't smell the greatest, but I couldn't comprehend that our scent would put her off. Edythe's skin, and mine, resultingly, was the sweetest smelling thing I'd ever experienced in my life-both living and undead.

"Well…" She said now.

"Yes," Edythe interrupted, "You really should be going."

I shot her a look. Did she really have to be like this?

"Yeah," Jules said, glancing at me again, "I should… Get back… Uh, see you later, Beau?"

"Sure," I said, "Soon. Maybe we could… Catch up sometime."

She smiled, the edges of her eyes crinkling up, and unexpectedly, I was smiling too. Jules was like this connection to the old life I could never have back, her warm presence comforting, familiar.

But the moment was broken now as I heard the low rumble of a warning growl build in Edythe's chest.

 _Whoa._

"Okay, okay," I muttered to her, touching her arm.

"I'm going," Jules promised, eyeing Edythe, and then she was backing toward her car, her hip bumping the back fender as she went back around to the driver's side. I watched her twist the key in the ignition, and head back the other way.

.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie's house was quiet in the dead of night.

He'd forgotten the porch light on, but every other room was dark. From where I was perched on the thick, sturdy branch of a fir bordering the property, I heard him shift in bed. His heartbeat was slow, serene. As he rolled over, his scent drifted across the yard toward me. When I'd first come, weeks ago, I had been surprised at his scent. I'd smelled other humans, of course, so I knew the difference between that of a normal human, and that of one who smelled much, much better.

Edythe had noted this-absolutely adamant that I not come alone-how she'd become aware of it too, when she'd met him. She'd wondered aloud if the temptation she'd felt for my blood, was somehow genetic, though she had assured me she hadn't found Charlie nearly as tempting, just moreso than usual.

Now, I was alone, though I knew Edythe wouldn't be happy about it. She had been oddly overprotective lately, and I hadn't the faintest reason why. It must have had something to do with what was going on in Seattle, though in the week that had passed, I hadn't been able to get much more information out of her about it.

The message must have been passed around to everyone else in the family not to indulge me, either, because the closest answer I could get was from Archie, and even then, he barely told me more than Edythe had.

Now, just on the horizon, the night sky was beginning to change color, fading into a deep lavender color. Charlie would be getting up soon. It had been a habit I hadn't been able to shake, coming here. Even now, I wasn't sure if it was to watch over him, or just to check in on him, to see how he was doing; how he was coping. Desperately, I wished there was some way I could see my mom. The last time I had laid eyes on her had been at the funeral, and she'd looked awful… I hoped she was alright.

Edythe had been right-this had been the most painful part about the transition to immortal life. To know I had left my parents behind in such a tragic way-weren't kids supposed to bury their parents, not the other way around?-tugged at the hollow place in my chest. I had found myself here more often in the past couple of days. Where before I'd visited the house maybe once a week, I'd been coming for the past five nights in a row.

But tonight was the first time I'd felt another presence in the forest with me.

Immediately I was on high alert, ears tuning, nostrils flaring to take in the scent of whoever was coming my way. The muscles in my shoulders and all along my arms clenched automatically at the scent. It wasn't Edythe, nor anyone from my family. In fact, it wasn't a vampire at all.

Werewolf.

The large, heavy paws thudded through the underbrush awhile off. I heard the moment whoever it was hesitate as they caught my scent. Their pace picked up then, and as they broke through the ferns, her teeth were bared, a reddish brown wolf, the black eyes piercing, hostile, and then she caught site of me, sitting high up in the fir tree, and the growl that had been issuing from between her teeth broke off in a strange, almost shocked sounding whimper.

"Hey," I said lowly, putting my hands up, palms forward, "Chill out. I'm just keeping an eye on him."

The wolf's expression changed again. I was surprised how… _human_ her face could look in this form. Something like a mask of pity settled over her face, and she sat back on her haunches, fur on her shoulders relaxing.

I leaped from the twenty or so feet up I'd been sitting, landing silently on the balls of my feet atop the scattered pine needles.

"I like to check up on him once in awhile," I explained.

The wolf gazed at me for a minute, and then she turned and headed back into the deeper forest.

"Hey," I called after her, taking a step forward.

I stopped reflexively as a strange sort of energy shimmered in the air around me.

"Hold on a sec, stay there," a familiar voice called out from the other side of the thick wall of foliage.

"Jules?"

A minute later, she came back toward me, teeth glinting brightly in the darkness of the early morning. "Fancy seeing you here, stranger," she said, grinning. She had on a pair of grey joggers and a navy blue tank top-a color I wouldn't have been able to discern with my human eyes in this light. She was barefoot.

"What are you doing here?" was the first question that popped out of my mouth.

"Oh, Sam likes us to run patrol around here," she said flippantly, and then her lips kind of pressed together, as if she'd said something she shouldn't have.

"Why is Charlie… included in those parameters? I mean, isn't it kind of a long way to come, from La Push?"

She shrugged, pushing the sole of her foot against a nearby tree trunk. "Not really. It's not a problem."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Don't you start hiding things from me, too, Julie."

She lifted her head, staring at me with dark, wide, much too innocent eyes. "Hiding things?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Whatever. Forget about it."

"They're not telling you?" Her realization was quiet, surprised.

How did Julie know what was up, and I didn't? Something was definitely _wrong_ if Charlie was included in their patrol. Something that involved the people of Forks as well as our secret supernatural community. Images of what was happening in Seattle flitted through my mind, maimed bodies drained of blood… Vampire attacks.

Some piece of the puzzle was absent; there was something I was missing.

"Where's your mate?" Jules asked now, and I didn't miss just the tiniest lift of her lip, a snarl, when she mentioned Edythe.

"I came alone. I don't need her with me twenty-four-seven." I squared my shoulders, sniffing indignantly.

Jules appraised me for a minute, and then unexpected laughter slipped through her lips. "Okay, Mr. Perfect Newborn Vampire Sir. Whatever you say. No babysitters for you."

I couldn't help laughing, too. "They tend to be… kind of…"

"Overprotective. I get it." The way she said it brought understanding. It occurred to me that she was new to her new-found supernatural tendencies, too, and her pack might be a little overbearing on her as well.

"Hm, something in common," I murmured with a smirk.

"I mean, only to be expected, seeing as we're so much the same in every other way," she joked.

Again, easy laughter passed between us.

"What do you say?" she said, "Wanna take a walk?"

I glanced back toward my old house, where I could see the hall light on through the window, and heard the shower start.

"Yeah," I said, "Let's get out of here."

.

"Where have you been?"

Edythe's voice was sharp, terse with anger. I had just stepped onto the lawn, and she was already waiting at the edge of the trees. She must have heard me running back toward the house.

"And why do you _reek_ of werewolf?"

I rolled my eyes. "I was at Charlie's, and I ran into Jules-" her eyes narrowed at the nickname "We hung out for awhile." I shrugged. "No big deal."

"It kind of _is_ a big deal, when you disappear for hours at a time, Beau." Her voice quaked and I realized that underneath the anger, she was scared, and worried.

"Hey," I said, my voice low, soothing, and I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close, "Don't worry about me. I'm good."

A puff of breath-a disagreement-exited Edythe's nose, but she didn't say anything as she relented and rested her head against my chest.

We stood there in the thin morning light for awhile, just enjoying each others' closeness.

"I missed you," I finally whispered into her hair.

"As if that's any consolation." I could almost hear her rolling her eyes. But I think I was forgiven, because she lifted her hands to my face, and pulled my lips down to hers.

 **A/N: So sorry about the short chapter! I'm just coming out of a particularly bad relapse with depression and my eating disorder, and as much as I'm enjoying writing, it's still coming back slowly. But rest assured, things will pick up again soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

a/n: I know, I know, I HATE when authors do this, too… But I really thought you guys deserved an update.

I'm sure most of you are following my new Life and Death fic, Daybreak (life and death from Edythe's POV) and that kind of has most of my focus right now, but rest assured—I am slowly but surely making progress on Solar Eternal!

I have a bad habit of starting projects and not finishing them, because I jump into them completely unprepared. I'm one of those odd-ball patchwork writers who works without a plot, and most of the time, I come up against a wall that takes awhile to climb. ANYWAY.

Just wanted to let you all know I'm here, I'm plotting, I'm writing—and deleting most of that writing… but you know… Practice makes perfect, and this fic has not been abandoned.

See you all soon! xo


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